SAN ANTONIO — Jonathon Simmons craved a bigger role throughout his first two NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. With Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green entrenched as the Spurs’ starting wings, Simmons typically played a reserve role.

Simmons wanted more.

More responsibility. More playing time. More money.

He’s found all of the above this season with the Orlando Magic, but it’s come at a cost: losing.

With the Spurs, he lost a total of just 36 regular-season games over two seasons.

With the Magic, he’s already lost 47 games, with 15 more games to go, including a matchup Tuesday night against his former Spurs teammates at AT&T Center.

“It’s difficult, but I love the game of basketball,” Simmons said. “That alone helps me get through this. It’s all a job. We go through ups and downs, so you just always have to keep the faith and hope everything gets better. But I love Orlando. I love this group of guys. So it’s just unfortunate how our season has went, but I keep the hope that something is going to change.”

Simmons has played against the Spurs twice before — in a preseason game Oct. 10 in San Antonio and in a blowout Magic victory on Oct. 27 in Orlando.

He’ll enter Tuesday’s game with mixed emotions: He’s playing well, but his team is struggling. With Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier out with injuries, he scored 25 points in a loss Friday night to the Sacramento Kings and tallied 24 points and seven assists in a loss Saturday night to the Los Angeles Clippers. Those arguably were his best consecutive performances all season.

“I think he’s definitely tried to rally guys at certain times and make sure that we’re all understanding that it’s not acceptable to lose at the rate we’ve lost this year,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said. “But, at the same time, he hasn’t short-circuited, either. Sometimes guys short-circuit when they haven’t experienced losing like this. He’s been a team guy.”

Simmons’ play has been especially encouraging because he’s endured another challenge this season: tired legs.

In his two seasons with the Spurs, he played a total of 2,205 minutes over two seasons.

So far this season with the Magic, he’s already played 1,934 minutes and counting. He’s endured flu-like symptoms on one game day, a few ankle sprains and a midseason lull in which he seemed drained. but he’s still played in 66 of the Magic’s 67 games.

Asked how fatigued he feels, he quipped, “I’m not fresh at all.”

Turning a bit more serious, he said, “I’m fighting. I’m a fighter. I’m not going to let my team down. There’s been many times I feel like I could’ve sat out, but I’m not that kind of guy. So definitely going into next season and this summer, I’ll be doing things to take care of my body more getting ready for next year.”

He must improve in a few other areas, too. Although his 3-point shooting is better than it was last season, he’s still made only 33.1 percent of his attempts from deep with the Magic. He also is prone to turnovers when he drives into traffic; he’s averaging 2.6 turnovers per 36 minutes, the highest average among current Magic players.

He has, however, brought toughness.

“He’s always in attack mode,” point guard Shelvin Mack said. “He plays hard every single night and brings the energy. That’s the kind of guy I want to play with.”

Simmons found most of what he was looking for when he signed with the Magic last summer: a bigger role and a bigger paycheck.

He just hasn’t won like he did during his San Antonio tenure.

He can’t wait to reconnect with his former teammates.

He still hears from them.

The other night, after the loss to the Clippers, Simmons received a text message from Spurs wing Kyle Anderson.

“It means a lot,” Simmons said. “Those guys off the court were great guys and always looked out for one another, and I can’t wait to see ’em.”

jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.